Former President Bill Clinton gives the keynote speech at the New Republic Centennial Gala Dinner at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Nov. 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

(Newser)
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Big news in the media world today, by way of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes' announcement that he's seeking a buyer for the New Republic. He bought a majority stake in the magazine in 2012 and a much-publicized staff exodus hit in 2014.

The announcement itself: Hughes posted it to Medium, and he addresses the 2014 schism. "Our disagreement didn't help our ability to make The New Republic viable today, but it also did not spell our demise. ... Even though our search for a workable business model has come up short, we have shown that digital journalism isn't at odds with quality and depth." In full here.

The numbers: Hughes writes he sank $20 million into it (independent of the purchase itself). As for traffic losses, the Wall Street Journal reports via comScore that November 2015 traffic was down 38% year-over-year, to 2.3 million unique visitors.

"Good!" So proclaims Erik Wemple at the Washington Post. "It would have been understandable if Hughes had lost his nerve after a couple of decades. But this guy lost his nerve after a couple of years."

The Twitterati: Sample tweet: "This is the Silicon Valley version of the Saudi oil prince who crashes a Lamborghini in the desert and walks away."

An increasingly irrelevant rag that's been in slow demise since the 70s finally dies; /yawn. Hughes did everyone there who quit a favor by forcing them to find something more meaningful to do with their lives.

IOBAMAISLOST

Jan 12, 2016 8:31 AM CST

Next shut down Facebook!

Satch1313

Jan 11, 2016 1:49 PM CST

It's so hard for the super-rich to stay relevant any more. Maybe next time instead of buying a toy to break, he could team up with a smart management group. That's what I'd do. Learn from smart people. Beats mismanaging a company into an early demise.